Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Justice For Ruben Navarro?

Navarro, who weighed about 80 pounds, was born with a neurological disorder known as adrenoleukodystrophy. He also had cerebral palsy and seizures. Navarro lived in a home for mentally and physically challenged adults in the year before his death.

A report from federal regulators said Roozrokh ordered Navarro to receive 200 milligrams of morphine and 80 milligrams of the sedative Ativan -- far in excess of the usual doses.

Roozrokh was also accused of prescribing excessive morphine and administering the topical antiseptic Betadine into Navarro's stomach.

He was not brain dead, and his family had given permission for him to be removed from life support. This man who weighed 80 pounds was given 200 milligrams of morphine. It still took him at least seven hours to die. That's not a natural death, although the coroner ruled it was. Again, as I wrote before, the lethal dose of morphine used by Dr. Shipman, the UK mass murderer of his elderly patients, was 30 milligrams, and Ruben Navarro was given almost seven times that dose PLUS other drugs. Read it for yourself:

Shipman would inject 30 mg of morphine into his patients, telling them that he was taking a blood sample, or giving them an appropriate medicine for their condition; to a person not dependent on opiates, 30 mg is a fatal dose, and will bring about death in a matter of minutes to hours.

The disabled, especially the mentally disabled, are fair game in the United States when it gets to many courts.** Kudos to the DA for trying. It will be interesting to see the outcome of the case.

**In 1995, even though she begged to be fed, Marjorie Nighbert was starved to death in a nursing home. The situation was taken to court, and a judge ruled she was not competent to ask to be fed. Not only that, but staff at the nursing home got into trouble for slipping her food and water in small amounts. See Wesley J Smith's account. It's a grim world when medical staff are forced by a legal system to care for conscious human beings who are begging for food and water in every other way but that of providing food and water.